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<title>October prompts: Waking up restrained by theonetruenorth</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26754694">October prompts: Waking up restrained</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/theonetruenorth/pseuds/theonetruenorth'>theonetruenorth</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>October writing prompts 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, Medical Experimentation, October prompts 2020, Temporary Character Death, Whumptober</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:41:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>785</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26754694</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/theonetruenorth/pseuds/theonetruenorth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Nicky had long ago lost count of the times he had woken up and found himself unable to move.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>October writing prompts 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948783</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>162</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>October prompts: Waking up restrained</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>First thing ever published in TOG fandom, be gentle with me.<br/>Not beta-read and I am not a native English speaker, so please don't mind the mistakes. Will be beta-read in time and edited later.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nicky had long ago lost count of the times he had woken up and found himself unable to move. He honestly stopped paying attention somewhere after that number had passed one hundred. It didn’t really matter. Finding their way <em> out </em> of the restraints became a skill they all had perfected ages ago.</p><p>The slowly returning consciousness never stopped being disorienting, though. Blinking himself out of the dark haze that still clung stubbornly to his eyelashes, Nicky did his best to look around, to orient himself in the new environment. Something nudged at his awareness, a voice he knew better than his own, a voice of his heart calling out to him. He looked to his left and sure enough, his love was there, looking at him with worried eyes.</p><p>“There you are,” Joe breathed out in relief as Nicky’s vision cleared. “You had me worried there for a moment, amore mio.”</p><p>“You know me,” Nicky let out a quiet grunt as he tested the strength of the restraints that had him strapped to a table in what he assumed was one of Merrick’s labs, “I can take a nap almost anywhere.”</p><p>He earned himself a laugh in return, though there was something shaky in it, something tinged with uncertainty, or maybe even grief. Whatever it was, it sobered Nicky instantly, sharp awareness returning in face of the still unknown threat.</p><p>“What is it?” Nicky asked, completely serious now. </p><p>“Don’t be alarmed, love,” Joe said, though his tone was cautious, regretful, like he knew he was asking for the impossible, “but I think I might be the one napping soon.”</p><p>It was only then that Nicky noticed the IV bag hanging over Joe’s head, the thin tube leading from it and the needle disappearing into Joe’s arm. His veins were distended, dark and angry-looking and Nicky wondered briefly just how much pain Joe had been in this entire time that Nicky had slept. </p><p>“What’s in it?” he asked, not entirely sure he actually wanted an answer. The liquid inside the bag was a noxious violet color. It looked almost comical, really, like something pulled out of an exaggerated spy movie, or a cartoon. All that was missing was a giant drawing of a skull and two crossed bones. </p><p>“I’m not sure,” Joe said with a sigh and Nicky could now clearly hear the fatigue in his voice, as if formulating words was enough to sap what remained of his energy. “But I think we both know what the end result will be.”</p><p>It was clearly a test of some sort. Nicky could recall, in full and vivid detail, the way the female doctor had looked at them before, with fascination so strong it bordered on being obscene. Like she couldn’t wait to dissect them, to see what makes them tick.</p><p>“Does it hurt?” Nicky asked and Joe turned his head sideways to look at him, shifting on his table as if he wanted to get comfortable, impossible as it was.</p><p>“Not as much as I expected it to,” Joe said and it wasn’t an answer, not really, “but I can feel myself growing weaker. I don’t think it will be long now.”</p><p>His heart would probably give out first. Nicky was well aware of how poison affects the body. Circulation and respiratory failures were the most common causes of death. They all had suffered from it more times than he cared to count.</p><p>“I will come back to you,” Joe whispered, words low and intimate and Nicky would have laughed if his own heart wasn’t breaking at Joe’s endless need to comfort<em> him</em>, even as he was dying. </p><p>“You always do,” Nicky said, his own voice softening, as if he didn’t want to show how much this pained him, to look at the love of his life visibly fading away. As if Joe didn’t know, after the millenium of reading him like an open book.</p><p>“Look at me, hayati,” Nicky said, turning to his side as much as he could, as much as his restraints allowed him. “Keep looking at me. I will be the first to welcome you when you wake.” </p><p>It took only minutes, after that. Joe’s breathing grew more labored at first and then slowed down, but at least he didn’t look like he was in pain. Nicky would take small mercies, whenever he could. He looked Joe in the eyes the entire time and saw the exact moment that life faded away from them, not needing the screech of heart monitors to know his love was gone. But he didn’t look away, didn’t dare to even blink and miss the moment he would come back.</p><p>He made Joe a promise, after all.</p>
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